An affirmative easement (also known as a positive easement) is an interest in another person’s land that allows the easement holder or easement owner (the dominant estate) to use the other person’s property (often an adjoining property) for a limited purpose.

For example, a landowner (the dominant estate) may have an affirmative easement that requires the owner of the adjoining property (the servient estate) to permit a limited use of the servient estate, such as discharging water or grass that has been cut onto the servient estate.

The terminology of the dominant estate and the servient estate is best understood by focusing on the use permitted by the easement. The dominant estate is the property with the right to use the servient estate (which is serving the dominant estate in some way).

In South Dakota, an affirmative easement, also known as a positive easement, is a property interest that allows the holder of the easement (the dominant estate) to make affirmative use of another person's property (the servient estate). This type of easement grants the right to perform certain actions on the servient estate, such as discharging water or depositing cut grass, which benefits the dominant estate. The creation of an easement in South Dakota typically requires a written agreement that is recorded with the county register of deeds. The easement must be created in compliance with state laws, including the statute of frauds, which requires certain contracts, including those for the creation of an interest in land, to be in writing. Easements can be established by express grant or reservation, necessity, implication, or prescription. Once established, easements are binding on subsequent owners of the servient estate and can only be terminated under specific conditions, such as when the purpose of the easement no longer exists, through a release by the dominant estate, or by abandonment.